Dinner @ The Pomelo Restaurant, The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat Ipoh, Malaysia

At The Banjaran, dining options is limited unless you drive out to Ipoh city for some food. The only restaurant in the resort is The Pomelo Restaurant, to cater for your breakfast, lunch and dinner needs. Other than The Pomelo, there is only a juice bar and Jeff's Cellar (one of the most unique wine cellars in the world.... why? Cos it's located in a 280-million year old cave!).

So it was dinner time, and we were too lazy to leave the resort and hunt for food after lazing in our gorgeous villa all afternoon. We ended up in The Pomelo again for dinner. In the evenings, the restaurant is dimly lit (no good for photographs but romantic lah!).

For starters, Hubby had the green gazpacho soup (RM33) from Madam Aboucaya's dinner menu. The soup wasmade from avocado, granny smith apples, cucumber and mixed herb topped with some raw dehydrated crackers. The vibrant colour of the soup was lovely and it tasted very refreshing as well. This was definitely the best thing we ate for dinner here.

Love the pretty presentation, mimicking a garden

I chose a starter from their regular a la carte menu, the poached prawns citrus (RM38). There wasn't really much to choose from, 2 starters, a soup, two mains and two desserts from their ! regular menu compared to their lunch menu. I found the salad to be ok, the prawns could have been fresher (meat was a little soft). The salad was made up of citrus segments, avocado, and rocket salad with lemon vinaigrette.

I think I mentioned the mocktails in the last post, this time I had the Lift-Me-up (RM20), an energy booster drink made from banana, strawberry and soya milk. It was good!

For mains, it was either the salmon or grilled grain fed beef fillet (RM78). Since I do not like cooked salmon (I only eat them smoked or raw), I went for the beef and so did Hubby. We both ordered our beef medium rare, but one came out medium and the other well done. I was lucky to have gotten the medium one as the meat was quite tender and succulent, whereas the well done piece was well.. a little dry (but saved slightly by pouring on the natural jus). I did swap some of my meat with Hubby.

I do like the pairing with pumpkin puree (pumpkin and beef seems to go well together), and Portobello mushroom. This was supposed to come with French beans but there wasn't any in sight.. maybe they ran out.

For desserts, we wanted to try some of Madam Aboucaya's creations but unfortunately the waiting staff forgot to tell us that last orders for the other menu was at 9.30pm. We just ordered off the regular menu, trying both desserts on offer - the flourless chocolate cake (RM26) and chilled soy panna cotta with beetroot compote (RM26). Sad to say, I didn't like either - the cake was too dry and the panna cotta was not silky smooth. Maybe someone who likes healthy dessert may enjoy this more... it's just me.

Flourless chocolate cake

Chilled soy panna cotta with beetroot compote

And after our meal, we lounged around in our beautiful water villa once again! Ah... bliss.

See previous reviews here: Madam Lawrence Aboucaya organic event, Lunch at Pomelo Restaurant, Hotel Review: The Villas.

Next up, will be the facilities / things to do around The Banjaran.

Opening times: Breakfast (7.00am-11.00am), Lunch (12.00pm-2.00pm), Dinner (6.00pm-10.00pm).

Location: The Pomelo Restaurant, The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat, 1 Persiaran Lagun Sunway 3, 31150 Ipoh, Perak.

Tel: 05-210 7777

Website: http://www.thebanjaran.com

GPS Coordinates: 4.63082, 101.15617